Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you elaborate on what do you mean by Windows update cycle? I have a Mac Mini, that I rarely touch to check a new release of something on Mac, and practically every time I have to use it, an update is pending. Not sure how this is worse, than Windows.
With Windows it feels the same way, except a lot of what Windows Update does runs silently in the background, sometimes during your most precious computing hours with no way to stop it except force quitting through the Task Manager. And half the time the updates fail. And when you quickly want to shut down sometimes Windows also forces an update...
Took me a while to figure out how to remove the apps I never intend to use and disable auto-updates for the ones I do use. It can be disabled yeah, but the auto-update is the default, and I have a feeling it will get mysteriously turned back on at some point, and I won't notice until it kills my battery at an awkward time again.